John 8:45Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What sequence is there in these words? Though you have accused Me of nothing, you want to kill Me. You persecute Me because you are enemies of the truth.

“But you do not believe Me, because I speak the truth.” Since you have nothing else with which to accuse Me except the truth, you rise up against Me for this very reason, as sons of the father of falsehood.

With perfect justice He had removed them from kinship with Abraham. He had exposed them as unlike him in character and as estranged from piety toward God Himself. He had also explained the reason for their inability to hear His word.

He now shows again who should most justly and naturally be called their father. “You,” He says, “are of your father the devil.” He, He says, “was a murderer” from the beginning, “and does not stand in the truth. He is a liar.”

The liar also has a father, whom He clearly defines in the words that follow. This saying, contained in few words, has great obscurity and requires especially exact investigation. The discourse is profound, and I think it is hard for many to understand.

As for the simpler and more readily intelligible meaning, He appoints no other father for the Jews than Satan, who fell from heaven. Yet the words that follow, as though about this father appointed for them, disturb us somewhat.

They cause us no small perplexity: “because he is a liar, as also, ϰαϑώς ϰαί, his father.” Of whom, if we reason soundly, can we suppose that he was father to the devil?

Did another fall before him, to whom this second one would be like in form and character? It is impossible to present any passage from the sacred and divine Scriptures as proof of this. What is not said by the God-inspired Scriptures is by no means acceptable for faith.

On the contrary, every spirit among the demons is called and is a child of Satan the devil, according to what our Savior Christ said: “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself” (Mt 12:26).

But we know one who is foremost and chief among the rest. It is he to whom it was said through the prophet Ezekiel: “You were the seal of likeness and the crown of beauty, born in the delight of the paradise of God. You were clothed with every precious stone” (Ezek 28:12-13).

Whom else, then, may we suppose without danger of error to be the one according to whom this one is stamped? I mean the likeness in wickedness.

Some of the ancient interpreters explained this place finely by saying this. That original Satan, considered the ruler of all the other demons, was bound, as it is said, by the power of God and cast into Tartarus as punishment for his insolence against God (Mt 12:29; 2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6).

After him, they say, another appeared, uniform with his father in abominations, the present prince of this age (Jn 12:31; Jn 14:30; Jn 16:11; Mt 9:34; Mt 12:24; Eph 6:12, and others). They say that it is of him that the Savior says he “was a murderer from the beginning,” and that “he is a liar, like, ὥσπεϱ, his father.”

Although at first sight this explanation appears very simple and natural, the following point chiefly prevents us from agreeing with it. From the time of the coming of our Savior, the devil’s dominion began to fall, and evil and unclean spirits began to be sent into the abyss.

Thus the demons, coming to Him, begged “that He would not command them to depart into the abyss,” as it is written (Lk 8:31). We remember that they cried out loudly about this, saying, “Let us alone. What have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? We know who Thou art, the Holy One of God. Hast Thou come here before the time to torment us?” (Mk 1:24; Mt 8:29).

They themselves undoubtedly knew that our Lord Jesus Christ had come to strike and crush them in various ways, from the great report about Him among the Israelites. Yet they accused Him of coming at the wrong time, arrogantly and maliciously blaming the hour of His appearance.

They say “before the time,” not as though they had been tormented at some other time, but because they awaited one time of coming. At that time, without doubt, they were to suffer what was expected.

We shall also say this. If, while that one is bound according to some interpreters, someone else deceived Adam and still has not ceased from the rage for which he is accused, then the first will be entirely blameless toward us.

He would rightly have to be freed from every charge. He killed no one, deceived no one, and deluded no one. The words of God would not rightly refer to him: “As a garment stained with blood will not be clean, so you will not be clean, because you destroyed My land and killed My people” (Isa 14:19-20).

If, then, we admit that the one called first had no share in the crimes just listed, whom shall we say the second imitates? Whose image does he bear, if he surpasses his leader in wickedness and has even coarser marks of evil than he?

It might not be uninteresting to enter into a broader inquiry on this subject. Yet we consider it needless to speak at too great a length about what we do not now greatly need.

We must therefore turn to another interpretation. We must carefully examine whom Christ appoints as father for the Jews, one of the same character and mind as they, whose father the demon should rightly be considered, namely Satan, the well-known author of evil.

Thus the Lord refers them to Cain as their father. Cain was the first of all men to be exposed for lack of love toward the chaste Abel. After Satan, he became the beginning of envy, murder, deceit, falsehood, and delusion.

He can with perfect justice be called Satan’s son, since he stamped in himself the whole image of his wickedness. For as God is understood to be the Father of every holy and righteous man, the beginning of sanctification and righteousness for all, so, I think, Satan should rightly be considered the father of every evildoer, the beginning of every evil deed.

Since Cain is given as father to the Jews, and Satan to Cain himself, as we have said, we shall follow their own words and try again to prove this clearly. First, Satan rises up against God’s rebukes.

Then, he is a deceiver and a liar. Finally, he is a murderer through envy. When we have shown that Cain is of one character and one mind with him, we shall then transfer the argument to the third party, the Jews, who bear in themselves the whole image of Cain’s evil.

Satan did not regard his dignity as honorable, but desired what was far above his nature. He did not keep the boundary of his rank. He was cast down and fell, as though convicted by God through this and taught to know the measure of his nature.

Yet in his stubbornness he gained no benefit from this. He began to suffer from an even worse wickedness. He cared nothing for a movement toward correcting his disposition, but strove to remain in the immobility of his own evil.

When the first man was created by God, according to Moses’ narrative, he still continued to keep the commandment given him in paradise, I mean concerning the tree. Then Satan was the first to burn with envy.

He was as though convicted in his transgression and disobedience to God by the first-formed, so long as they still kept the commandment that had been given. By intricately woven deceits he tried to draw them into disobedience.

Knowing what must follow from despising the ordinances of the Great King, he persuaded them to do this. Thus he cast into extreme calamities those who had done him no harm.

That Adam’s transgression was the work of the devil’s delusion and envy, and that through it death appeared, both the nature of the matter itself will teach and the following saying of wise Solomon will show most clearly: “God did not make death, but through the devil’s envy death entered the world” (Wis 1:13; Wis 2:24). This clearly speaks about him.

Let Cain next come before us. He was Adam’s firstborn, a farmer by occupation. Abel was born to him second, and he was a shepherd of sheep.

Since natural law, without instruction, implanted in them knowledge of the Creator and commanded them to bring sacrifice to God, for every good thing is sown and implanted in nature by God, “Cain brought of the fruits of the earth,” as it is written.

“And Abel brought of the firstborn of the sheep and of their fat. God looked upon Abel and his gifts, but to Cain and his sacrifices He did not attend. Cain was grieved and his face fell. The Lord God said to Cain, ‘Why have you become grieved, and why has your face fallen? If you did not bring rightly and did not choose rightly, have you not sinned? Be still.’”

Then to Abel He said, “To you shall be his turning, and you shall rule over him” (Gen 4:3-7).

Cain was rebuked for having wrongly divided what was brought in sacrifice. Abel was rightly deemed worthy of praise and honor, and this became food for Cain’s envy.

Like Satan, he hardened himself against the rebukes that admonished him. Then, possessed by unrighteous envy, as we have said, he pursued his brother with deceit, having already conceived an impious murder.

“Cain said to Abel his brother, ‘Let us go to another field, better than this’” (Gen 4:8). Pretending to invite him to a pleasant and luxuriant valley, he savagely killed him while he suspected nothing.

For the first time he gave the earth a dead man. It seems he thought that he would surely gain honor for himself, since he no longer had a rival. Yet even after the murder he lied.

When God asked him, “Where is Abel your brother?” (Gen 4:9), he answered, “I do not know.” In his extreme madness he immediately added, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

He all but says this: You who unjustly crowned him, what good did You do him by guarding him? Therefore you can already see in him, quite clearly, the whole image of diabolical evil exactly reflected and the complete likeness of his moral form.

Now let our discourse pass directly to the impiety of the Jews. By ascribing to them likeness to Cain’s wickedness, we shall show that they undertook against Christ the same things that he did against Abel. Thus Cain may with full justice and reason be called their father.

Cain was firstborn, as we said. But Israel also was firstborn by adoption among the children of God, according to what was said to Moses: “Israel is My firstborn son” (Ex 4:22).

Cain brought sacrifice to God from the fruits of the earth, but God “did not attend to his sacrifices,” as it is written (Gen 4:5). Yet Israel’s service under the Law is also, as it were, earthly, through bulls, sheep, and fruits of the earth. God likewise does not accept this service.

“Why,” He says, “do you bring Me frankincense from Sheba and cinnamon from a distant land?” (Jer 6:20). Likewise, through the voice of Isaiah He cries aloud, “Who required this from your hands?” (Isa 1:12).

Then after Cain appears righteous Abel, intending to bring sacrifice from sheep. For after the service under the Law, and with the prophets ceasing, Christ came, the true Righteous One.

He offered to God the Father not fruits of the earth, but Himself. He raised Himself as a sweet fragrance to Him, an unblemished sacrifice for the life and salvation of all.

Rejecting the service under the Law as earthly, God the Father “attended to” the sacrifice of our Savior Christ. “Attended to” means “approved.” What then follows?

Cain was reproved because he divided, or chose, wrongly. When he was rebuked, he was seized by the sickness of envy. He even rushed senselessly toward murder.

So also, through the Son, God admonished the Jewish people. He required from the Jews something better for an offering, commanding them to pass from service under the Law to spiritual fruit-bearing, and urging them to change the letter into truth.

But when they were exposed, they grew indignant. They were struck by their ancestral envy. They burned with murder, and unjustly, against our Savior Christ.

Cain deceived Abel and, leading him out into the field, killed him. In the same way the Jews, so far as it lay with them, deceived Christ. Under the guise of a friend they sent the betrayer.

He came to betray Him and kissed Him treacherously, saying, “Hail, Rabbi!” (Mt 26:49). And they led Him out into the field, that is, outside the gates, and killed Him. For Christ suffered “outside the gate” (Heb 13:12) for us and on our behalf.

From this you see how they are in no way like Abraham or his descendants. Rather, they bear the image of their own father, who truly befits them.

“But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin, as I convict you and your father? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me? It is precisely because you are children of the devil” (cf. Jn 8:44-46).

“He who is of God hears the words of God. Therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God” (Jn 8:47). Again, do not discover nature here, but find vice. Thus they are of God and not of God. By nature they are of God; by vice they are not of God.

I beg you, pay attention. In the Gospel you have a remedy against the poisonous and impious errors of heretics. For the Manichaeans usually say about these words: “See, look, here are two natures, one good and the other evil. The Lord is speaking of this.

If I spoke falsehood, you would surely believe, as one speaking what belongs to your father. But since I teach the truth, you do not believe Me, as one teaching what is alien to him. By “truth” He means both every other part of His teaching and the teaching that He is the Son of God.

No, said the Lord. It cannot be said that your father is God. If you were His children, you would love Me. You would understand My language, or at least you would willingly listen to My words, because I proceed from that same Father.

But this is not in you. Since you resist the truth, and not only unintentionally but intentionally, this state of your spirit exposes you as children of the adversary of truth, the devil, who does not stand in the truth.

Your murderous designs against Me serve as new proof that you come from him, for he was a murderer from the beginning.

Thus it is one of two things: either I do not speak the truth, but who will convict Me of falsehood? Or you are not from God. Otherwise we would understand one another.

Now the Jews see that Jesus Christ is speaking of spiritual sonship, and they object to Him: "We were not born of fornication from Abraham or Sarah, a sin history does not know of them. Therefore we are not Gentiles, who do not belong to the assembly of God's offspring (Deut. 23:2). We have one spiritual Father, God."

To this Jesus Christ answers that, if they were children of God, they would love Him. For He proceeds from God according to His very essence, and He appeared in the world as One sent by God (42-43).

"For why does My speech, λαλια, the way I speak, seem strange and unintelligible to you? Because you cannot even hear, cannot receive My word, λόγος, that of which I speak. You are obedient children of the devil.

Jesus said to them: If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I proceeded and came from God.

"But you do not wish to understand Me. You cannot even hear My word. And why? Because your father is the devil, and you wish to fulfill the desires, that is, the will, of your father.

He was a murderer from the beginning of the creation of the human race. He revealed his hatred and malice toward men by tempting the first people. He did this because he did not stand firm in the truth of God, and now there is no truth in him.

He speaks only falsehood, for he is a liar and the father of falsehood. And you fear the truth. You seek to kill Me because I speak the truth." On the devil, see the commentary on Mt 4:1. On the right to call God Father, see Mt 6:9.

“But because I speak the truth,” and so forth: from the father He turns His speech again to the children. People usually believe a man because he speaks the truth. But the Jews are so seized by the darkness of falsehood that they do exactly the opposite. They do not believe the Lord because He speaks the truth to them. Truth has become as alien to them as it is to their father. Precisely because Christ speaks the truth, they do not believe Him. “If I spoke falsehood, you would believe Me as one speaking what belongs to your father” (Euthymius Zigabenus).

The whole force of Christ the Savior's rebuke was, of course, directed against the Pharisees and scribes. They had a destructive influence on the people, introducing the poison of doubt into the people's simple and trusting soul through their false interpretations.

The further accusatory words of Jesus Christ likewise referred exclusively to the scribes and Pharisees. In their stubborn malice, they placed obstacles before Christ's ministry, the work of saving men from sin.

Turning to them, Christ said: "Your father is the devil, and you wish to fulfill the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning," tempting our first parents to sin.

"And he did not stand in the truth," for though he was created good, like all the angels, he fell through pride and resistance to God.

The Lord explained to the Jews why they did not believe in Him. By what, do you suppose? By the fact that He speaks the truth to them: "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me."

Falsehood had, as they say, become their flesh and blood, and made truth impossible for them to contain. Why do people not believe even now? For the same reason. The Lord speaks the truth, and therefore they do not believe.

But how can this be? Are they not all learned, and is all their talk not about truth? There is much talk, but no substance. The weaving of their systems is like the weaving of a spider's web, though they do not notice its fragility.

The Lord shows the Jews that they do not believe Him precisely because He speaks the truth. If His lips had uttered what is not truth, which is impossible, they would have believed it. It would have been akin to them and would have answered to their lying heart.

Then the Lord proceeds to another kind of proof. Openly, before all the people, He asks whether they can cast even a shadow of suspicion upon His whole life as man.

But the Lord's most sworn enemies are silent before this question, and in the following verse they answer only with blasphemy.

The Lord, speaking according to His humanity, as it were appeals to the Jews' long-deadened sense of honor. He sets before them this continually recurring question, to which they can give no answer.